In the medical field, studies are being carried out into photoacoustic apparatuses that irradiate a subject with light, receive acoustic waves generated in the subject due to the light, and analyze the acoustic waves to form an image representing information about the subject.
PTL 1 describes a photoacoustic apparatus that performs photoacoustic imaging by using a probe in which transducers are arranged on a hemisphere. With this probe, photoacoustic waves generated in a specific region can be received with high sensitivity. Thus, the resolution of subject information in the specific region is high. Also, PTL 1 describes a technique in which scanning is performed on a certain plane by using the probe, and the probe receives acoustic waves at a plurality of positions so as to obtain reception signals. Also, PTL 1 describes a technique in which reconstruction is performed after obtaining the reception signals at the plurality of positions.